The Dragon of Hogwarts
by Feygan
Summary: The Sorting Hat's song about the Founders has a very different meaning and the founding of Hogwarts was a very different thing.


Title: The Dragon of Hogwarts  
Author: Feygan  
Fandom: Highlander/Harry Potter  
Disclaimer: I do not own Highlander the Series or Harry Potter.

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"Are we all agreed that this is what we must do?" Helga asked, her nervous eyes twitching from face to face.

"Oh, let's get on with it already," Salazar snapped, crossing his arms impatiently. "We had this discussion weeks ago and none of our minds have changed. This needs to be done."

Godric laid a gentling hand on his lover's shoulder, calming him. "Salazar is right, Hel. The school is the most important thing right now. We need to ensure that it and our students will be protected long after we are all gone."

Helga sighed and bowed her head. "Very well. Let us do this." She took her place at the edge of the circle with the rest of them.

Holding hands, the four began to chant a powerful Calling spell, their words almost seducing the magic, bending it to their will as they called forth a creature of amazing natural power. If they made a single mistake in their casting, not only would their spell fail, but the backlash would probably kill them all.

Sweat dripped from Helga's face and she looked terrified of the power they were using. Rowena was pale, but resolute, the lines around her mouth tight as she kept her lips from trembling; she refused to fail. Godric was holding himself together well, knowing that what they did needed to be done and fear was not going to stop him. And Salazar... he manipulated the awesome power with a fearsome ease, the blazing light of his eyes telling of the fact that he felt like he had finally found his purpose.

At the point of final Calling, each put in the virtue they were willing to sacrifice to their cause.

"Bravery," Godric commanded boldly, his shoulders straightening and his chest puffing out. He knew that this was the only and right course of action and he had no second thoughts to test him and sway his course.

"Cleverness," Rowena said haughtily, her flaring eyebrows coming together and the spark in her eyes brightening. She had always been an intelligent woman, but now... it seemed as though her mind was truly working for the first time in her entire life. Ideas blazed across her brain and it was a wonder of intellectual freedom.

"Patience," Helga whispered nervously, her hands fluttering against the cloth of her robes, though she would not allow herself to back down now. They had all decided on what was to be done.

"Ambition," Salazar spit almost viciously. He was a tall straight man with a pleasing handsomeness, but now his face took on a most sinister cast in the firelight. Strange power was flowing through him, opening up new pathways in his mind, filling him with strange notions of what the future should bring.

The fire at the center of their circle flared up blindingly and they all had to look away until it cleared. And when they looked back... the fire was gone, and its place stood the figure of a man.

He was tall and thin with pale skin and wild black hair. His nose was fairly large and there was a cruel curl to his lips as he twisted around in the circle, looking from one to another, his eyes blazing with confused rage. "What am I doing here? Who are you? What have you done to me?" he demanded in Latin.

Godric stepped forward until his robes brushed the invisible barrier imprisoning their guest. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Godric Gryffindor, and these are Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. We have brought you here for a very simple reason. You are an Immortal, and we have need of you."

A flash of fear crossed the Immortal's face, but was gone almost as soon as it had appeared. "What do you need me for? What are you going to do?" he asked. His eyes were flicking around the room, searching for a means of escape, but there was none. He could feel the edges of the circle around him, humming with an invisible energy that made his skin crawl. He instinctively knew that he did not want to test the strength of those wards.

"Hogwarts is almost complete," Salazar said, slipping a hand up Godric's back to rest on his lover's shoulder in support. "There is only one stone left to be laid, and before it is placed we are going to use you, and there is nothing you can do to stop us."

"Use me? For what?" the Immortal asked.

A faint smirk tugged at Salazar's lips, a supremely unpleasant expression for its recipient. "We need a powerful anchor for the school to ensure its protection in the years to come. We have chosen _you_ as that anchor, as you will not age. Prepare yourself. This might hurt a little."

The man only had time for a look of surprised fear before the four struck, their words lashing him into place as they bound his Immortal energy into the very stones of Hogwarts. He screamed in agony, but they did not pause in their casting.

Horrified tears trickled down Helga's cheeks, but she didn't stop. She had known what was going to happen, which was why she had been so reluctant to help perform this spell, but it needed to be done. Rowena's vision of the future had told them that there would come a time when Hogwarts and the students it housed would need every protection that its founders could give them, and they had all decided on this course of action. It was weeks too late to change her mind.

Working through the sound of screams, the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ensnared the ancient Immortal into the very wards that would protect the great institution. As long as he lived, Hogwarts would never fall, and as long as Hogwarts stood, he would never be allowed to die.

The last stone lifted from its resting place inside the circle and flipped end over end across the room to fit itself at the top of the wall. Light flared over the whole of Hogwarts as the protection spells came to life for the first time.

The castle was complete.

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A thousand years or more ago,  
When I was newly sewn,  
There lived four wizards of renown,  
Whose names are still well known:  
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,  
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,  
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,  
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.  
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,  
They hatched a daring plan  
To educate young sorcerers  
Thus Hogwarts School began.  
Now each of these four founders  
Formed their own house, for each  
Did value different virtues  
In the ones they had to teach.  
By Gryffindor, the bravest were  
Prized far beyond the rest;  
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest  
Would always be the best;  
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were  
Most worth of admission;  
And power-hungry Slytherin  
Loved those of great ambition.  
While still alive they did divide  
Their favorites from the throng,  
Yet how to pick the worthy ones  
When they were dead and gone?  
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,  
He whipped me off his head  
The founders put some brains in me  
So I could choose instead!  
Now slip me snug about your ears,  
I've never yet been wrong,  
I'll have a look inside your mind  
And tell where you belong!  
-**the Sorting Hat's song,  
**_**Order of the Phoenix**_


End file.
